I can do zat!
by Livelongandlovespock
Summary: Chekov first sees Uhura at the academy and she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Everything about her is perfect.Her love of xenolinguistics, the way she laughs, everything. The only problem is that she might be too perfect for Chekov...or so he thinks. Chekov/Uhura Uhura/Chekov fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note/disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Star Trek. This is my first fanfiction, so if there's any help anyone can give that would be appreciated. I am looking for a BETA.**

"**I can do zat"**

Chapter 1

Chekov had been admiring Uhura from afar for months since he had joined the academy.

She was completely enchanting in everything that she did. The way that she chuckled deeply when joking with friends, the way her eyes lit up when speaking to anyone about xenolinguistics, and even the way that she walked; in brisk steps which emphasized her muscular legs under her academy standard skirt.

The first time Chekov had seen her, he froze in place.

Hikaru Sulu, Chekov's good friend, had been sitting in the mess hall months before with a tray on the table in front of him getting ready to start eating. Chekov was on his way to sit with him when Uhura came to sit down with Sulu. Chekov froze in place and watched silently from afar. Unfortunately, he could not tell what they had been chatting about. However, it might not have mattered anyway as all he could focus on was her face as she giggled loudly, probably listening to a lame joke Sulu told.

Everything about her was perfect, the way her eyes sparkled, her laugh, everything. He had to know her name. Chekov stood inches away from the table silently starring. A few minutes later Uhura stood up from the table smiled and waved at Sulu. She dumped the remainder of the replicated food on her tray into the trash and briskly walked out of the mess hall.

Chekov scrambled over to Sulu's table. He practically threw his tray onto the table. "Oh Hey Pave—" Sulu began to say before a flushed Chekov cut him off., "Who was zat?"

"Who?"

"The beautiful voman I just saw you with!," Chekov exclaimed.

"Ohhh," Sulu replied while narrowing his eyes into a knowing glance while nodding. "That's Uhura"

"Uhura?" Chekov sighed, "zis is her first name, yes?"

"Nope."

"Oh, Hikaru, please tell me her first name" Chekov begged, "I-I'll buy you lunch! I promise, Russians honor."

Sulu gave Chekov a teasing uncertain face. "I don't know if I can trust your word Pavel."

Chekov bit his lip and interlocked his fingers, putting them up into the air in a pleading manor. "Russians honor, and you know how trustworthy Russians are. Ve practically inwented trust!"

Sulu chuckled at Chekov's overzealous pride when it came to his country. "Oh all right, I've never seen you act this way before so it must be serious. She told me that her name was Nyota when we first became friends in the xenolinguistics class we both have."

Chekov's eyes widened as he looked down and repeated "Nyota" slowly pronouncing each syllable through an exasperated sigh. He kept his gaze on downwards for a few more moments until he looked up at sulu, eyes even wider, blushing harder than before.

"Nyota has your class, yes? She is your friend? Hikaru, you must tell me ewerything you know about her! Please! I beg of you!"

"Alright, alright but let me finish my food first." Sulu teasingly grumbled.

Chekov had forgotten that he too had replicated food in front of him and began picking through it absentmindedly.

During the remainder of lunch, Sulu and Chekov discussed Sulu's obsession with plants, homework and what ship they wanted to be assigned to—both agreeing upon the enterprise because it was the newest and most exciting. All the while Chekov's usual physics related thoughts floated into his mind. However, something was different this time. In the back of his mind, he could not stop thoughts of Uhura interfering with his normal thought process.

"There are so many types of flowers you know? I will never get tired of studying them. Hopefully when we get assigned to our ship, I can go to other planets and analyze the plants there," Sulu mused while shoving forkfuls of whatever the mess hall workers tried to replicate into his mouth.

_If warp speed=140 times the speed of light then for the equation __v_ = _w_3_c_ _w1 is 140 and w 2 is 8 times that. So then NYOTA is equal to 1,120. As a result, UHURA KISSING ME is all we need to achieve warp speed, _Chekov thought.

"vait…zat's wrong," Chekov muttered quietly.

"Huh?" Sulu questioned lazily with food stuffed in his mouth.

Chekov looked up at Sulu, blushing deeply. "Oh, iz nothing. Um…I vaz just thinking of a test we had earlier. Continue."

"Oh ok. Anyway, I know that the enterprise will be my best chance for analyzing new species of plants first because…."

After they threw their trays away they made their way to Sulu's dorm room. When they made it to the door, Sulu punched in the pass code and the door opened with a hiss, allowing them both to enter. The anticipation was killing Chekov.

Chekov had been familiar with Sulu's dorm due to the fact that they often studied together. The pictures of his family members on the beige wall, the lamp on Sulu's coffee table, and the extremely white kitchen were the same as they had always been, so Chekov wasted no time scanning the room.

As soon as Chekov's eyes adjusted to the lighting, they found Sulu's blue couch and Chekov practically ran to it. He seated himself quickly beckoning Sulu. Sulu dropped his book bag onto the floor and, noticing Chekov's frantic gesture, made his way over to the couch.

Chekov grabbed Sulu's arm and practically yanked him downwards onto the couch. Sulu plopped onto the couch with an exasperated sigh. Chekov then looked at him with big puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, this is what I know," Chekov began to nod vigorously.

"Uhura loves xenolinguistics. It's her favorite subject she knows more than 20 languages including human languages and alien languages. She mentioned that some of the languages she knew were Klingon, French, Swahili and Vulcan. She didn't mention Russian so maybe she hasn't learned it yet, which could give you an opportunity to help her learn it."

In reaction to this, Chekov's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Sulu saw this and sighed.

"I said 'could'. I'm not exactly sure."

"Vell you are her friend, you can find out, yes? Please Hikaru, I'll do anything"

Sulu chuckled at chekov's pouty face, "ok, ok haha only because you're my best friend."

"Ey, who says you are my best friend?" Chekov replied, laughing.

"You're such a jerk Pavel," Sulu shot back, chuckling.

"I'm only kidding, Hikaru. Vat else do you know about Nyota?"

"Hmm," sulu mumbled assuming 'the thinkers' pose. "Well, she's the top student of the class and she's really hard working. But that's to be expected with her knowing that many languages. Oh! She told me her roommates name is Gailia and that everytime she's trying to study Gaila makes it impossible."

Chekov weighed the information in his head, attempting to determine whether it's helpful or not. There's a possibility it could be in the future but for now he isn't sure.

"Zanks Hikaru. Can you help me with one more zing?"

"Sure."

"How should I approach Nyota?"

Sulu thought over this question and answered the only way he knew how. "Just be yourself, every woman is different so you never really know how she wants to be approached unless you talk to her."

"Vell, do you think she'll like me?"

Sulu chuckled, "No."

Sulu then saw Chekov's expression. He straightened up and said in a more serious tone "I was kidding! Of course she'll like you."

Chekov smiled and stood up from the couch, "Vell I gotta go Hikaru, I really have to study for my star fleet history test. As you know history iz not my strong suit."

"Why don't you just study here? I told you earlier that I have the same test tomorrow just at a different time."  
_  
CRAP. That was when i wasn't listening! Come on Pavel make up something._

"Oh, vith all this Uhura stuff, I had forgotten. I might as vell study here like you suggest."

"That's more like it. For a while you weren't acting like yourself."

Chekov chuckled nervously and went over to sit back down on the couch while Sulu retrieved the _Starfleet: A history_ textbook from his room.

For the rest of the night, Sulu took his time testing Chekov on material from the book. Chekov got most of the questions Sulu asked correct.

Just as Chekov and Sulu were almost finished studying, Sulu sat up, wide-eyed and shouted, "I just remembered something!"

Chekov's eyes widened "vat?! Vat did you remember?!"

"Uhura always goes to the library every day at the same time. You can catch her there and introduce yourself to her then!"

"Hikaru, I could kiss you! ven does she go?!"

Sulu blushed in response, cleared his throat and then announced, "Everyday she goes there right after our linguistics class because we have the longest break then, besides lunch. We have our linguistics class for first period, so about…9:00 a.m. Oh and our class is in classroom b21."

"zis is great!"

"When are you going to talk to her?"

Chekov thought about it, and then bit his lip. He actually didn't know. Honestly, he was so nervous about approaching her. What if she didn't like him? What if she thought he was too pale, skinny and nerdy? What if she didn't like his accent and found him to be annoying? He didn't know what he would do if that happened.

"Hikaru, I'm nervous."

"Why? If she tries to walk away from you start talking about physics, she'll fall asleep then you can take her home and teach her Russian. Perfect plan."

Chekov scowled and pushed Sulu onto the carpet. Sulu lay in front of him rolling and laughing on the carpet.

**How was the first chapter? I feel like I should have been more descriptive but I don't know.(I fixed some of the grammar/present tense mistakes I had. Sorry about it, again first time writing a fic) Please review. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note/disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Star Trek. This is my first fanfiction, so if there's any help anyone can give that would be appreciated. LOOKING FOR BETA! **

**Thanks for the reviews and follows for the first chapter. You guys don't know how much I appreciate it. Anyway, this chapter is just going to be more character development. I enjoy writing about Chekov, giving more insight into his personality, so here you go! (btw sorry it took me a while to write this, I lost my inspiration for a while but it has kind of returned. Enjoy!)**

"**I can do zat"**

Chapter 2

Chekov gave a sigh of relief as he answered the last question of the Starfleet history test. It was finally over. He placed his PADD on the desk in front of him, and then groaned at the tingling he felt in his legs. They felt completely numb after sitting at his desk for such a long period of time.

The test hadn't been so bad, but Chekov always reread every single question when it came to history tests. He never excelled in history the way he did in physics, although he usually did well enough. As a result, he often strained his eyes, rereading all of the passages, questions and tid bits.

Chekov was also quite tired from all of the preparation he did for this test.

He hadn't even gone to the library after first period as Sulu suggested, because he felt that he needed to focus on studying for the history test. He took the time from every break in order to review what Sulu and him and had studied the night before.

However, Chekov made a promise to himself that he would go to the library after first period the following day, even if it was just to observe her.

As long as he got to see Uhura, the visit couldn't be pointless.

"I have the scores of the test. If you would like to know what grade you have received raise your hand," the history professor, Mr. Barrows, announced to the class.

Through Chekov's peripheral vision, he noticed Sulu's hand shoot up into the air.

It didn't surprise Chekov. Sulu was always proud of his work, whether he achieved his set goal or not. When he didn't, he would just mention that he would "try harder" and "get it next time," then he would move on. Chekov never told Sulu, but he admired that mentality. That type of mentality that doesn't allow you to give up.

_If Karu is doing it, I might as well, _Chekov thought.

Chekov slowly raised his hand and scanned the room to find a few other students timidly raising their hands.

Mr. Barrows similarly scanned the room and began announcing grades for everyone who raised their hand.

"Chekov, 89. Flores, 100. Smith, 76. Sulu, 93. Woodrow, 88…"

The bell rang.

"If I haven't told you your score and you still wish to know what you've gotten, come to my desk," Mr. Barrows shouted over the reverberate of the bell.

Chekov gathered his things and stood up from his desk. He could feel the numbness of his legs slowly alleviating. He waited until Sulu did the same and then walked out of the classroom with him.

"I did pretty good," Sulu noted.

Chekov put a hand on the back of his neck, massaging the skin there. "I did as I usually do."

Sulu turned his head to look at Chekov as they walked. His expression was reminiscent of someone who just remembered something.

"Did you go to the library to see Uhura?" Sulu questioned turning his head back to face the path ahead of them.

"No…Not yet. I studied for zis test instead; vich admittedly did not help much."

Chekov put his arm down and sighed.

"You will do better next time, and an 89 isn't bad anyway. Some people would feel crazy grateful to have that grade."

Chekov slightly tilted his head to peer at Sulu, "Not you."

Sulu laughed and then changed the subject. "Are you gonna see her tomorrow?"

"I vill."

Sulu looked over again to see Chekov's melancholy expression.

"Hey," Sulu offered "it will be fine"

Chekov bit his lip.

"You know what they say, if at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again."

"I thought that vas from a 21st century song?"

"…Yeah it is. That counts as saying it…or singing it."

Chekov laughed. Sulu had a way of cheering people up when they were down. It worked every time because the words of encouragement he offered were always words that he believed himself.

"What would you do without me?" Sulu asked with a wide grin.

"Die." Chekov deadpanned.

Sulu's lips changed form a curve into a straight line and they looked at each other with serious faces. A second later they simultaneously howled with laughter.

The laughter subsided and Sulu announced, "Welp, I gotta go take a nap, that test killed me."

"Not as much as it killed me," Chekov laughed, "I should probably go lay down too…bye Karu."

"See you tomorrow." Sulu waved with a smile and then strode off into the opposite direction.

Chekov put his hands in his pants pockets and continued to make his way to his dorm. Hopefully, his roommate wouldn't be there so he could get some rest. He wasn't.

A few minutes later, he made it to his dorm. Chekov punched in the passcode and entered the dorm when the door opened. He went to his room, dropped his things onto the floor, then plopped onto his bed with a sigh. It had been such a long day and Chekov was more exhausted than he let on to Sulu.

He immediately fell into a deep sleep.

.

.

.

Chekov screamed as he fell through what seemed to be endless sky. There was nothing but white below and above him and yet he continued descending, arms and legs flailing. Chekov was falling so fast he could hardly breathe and yet he managed to continue screaming. His heart beat furiously in his chest and all around him he felt heat engulfing him. Where was he? When would the falling stop? Was he dead?

Thousands of thoughts jumbled in his mind straining to find the answers when suddenly a giant room filled with shelves of books materialized below him. Chekov quickly braced himself for impact squeezing his eyes shut and positioning his arms at either side of him with his palm stretched and fingers spread apart.

A few seconds later he connected with the floor with a giant thud. He felt no pain but the feeling of breathlessness lingered. He leaned up peering around the room he was in. He slowly got up from the ground grunting.

_The academy library_, Chekov thought, _why am I here?_

Then his expression changed as he realized why he was there. He whispered "Nyota, of course" as he hit himself on the side of the head. Chekov allowed his blue eyes to sweep the room, looking for any sign of her. He found none.

He then began to search the room more intently walking in between shelves searching every corner until he finally spotted her.

Uhura's back faced him as she looked through shelves upon shelves of books not even aware of his presence. She wore a small and simple black dress with the words "You can't do it" on the back of it. Chekov's eyebrows furrowed as he read the words. They angered him and he knew they were there to do so.

He took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut and whispering "I CAN do it" to himself.

In the next second he took off after her, breaking into a run. Sweat quickly dripped from his curls swiveling down his forehead as heat began to engulf his entire body.

"NYOTA!" he called out fruitlessly.

In the pit of his stomach he could feel a whole forming calling attention to his nervous feelings.

"UHURA!" Chekov called out.

Uhura' continued to grab books from shelves and scan them, not even noticing the Russian boy hauling over to her.

It seemed to Chekov the longer he ran, the longer the pathway ahead of him became, he wasn't getting any closer to Uhura, but he had to reach her. He was determined.

He ran faster, the muscles in his legs flexing as he continued to dash in her direction.

As he ran, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something…or someone in the corner of his eyes. He tried to ignore it, attempting to only focus on her. Only on her.

He knew he could reach her. Chekov could finally talk to her, get to know her.

Suddenly Chekov felt a pair of hands pushing him and a second later he tumbled sideways onto the shelf to his left with an "oof."

Chekov leaned upwards to see who pushed him, only to find someone he used to know; someone who used to bully him when he first came to America. Carver Brutus. Chekov's brow furrowed as he looked him in the eyes. Why was he here? Chekov had wiped his hands clean of him when he left his old high school for Starfleet…or so he thought.

Carver snickered. "Well if it isn't the Russian. Came to get beat up again?"

Chekov rose to his feet quickly attempting to push past Carver to continue his pursuit of Uhura only to be ripped backwards by the arm, causing him to fall hard against the shelf again.

More people quickly began to file in from either sides of the pathway, all sniggering at Chekov. He recognized them as the teenagers that had helped Carver bully him at his old highschool.

"Wait cupcake, where you running to?... To her," Carver scoffed indicating to Uhura, "Don't you see the words? You CAN'T do it. Face it, you're not good enough. So just sit here and take this beating. That's one thing you CAN do."

The people around carver all howled with laugher in response to Carver's words. Chekov looked around him, he was outnumbered and afraid. However, he quietly promised himself that he wouldn't let it would attempt to run again that's the only thing he could do.

He looked into Carver's eyes and shouted "You AREN'T going to bully me any longer, Zat's one thing you CAN'T DO," before pushing carver onto the ground and breaking into a run towards Uhura again. He pushed past several people making a bee line for Uhura.

_You can do this Pavel, you can make it just a little closer._

He seemed to actually be making progress as Uhura's figure came closer and closer into view.

Chekov knew the kids were chasing him by now so he picked up the pace getting closer and closer.

"Nyota!" Chekov screamed.

She responded by turning her head in his direction.

He finally made it to her. Chekov coughed numerous times before saying anything. His chest heaved up and down and he put his hands on his knees to steady himself.

"Ve haf to get out of here Nyota, they're coming for us," Chekov said quickly grabbing her arm in order to pull her away from the mob approaching. Uhura jerked her arm from his grasp.

Her eyebrows creased as she looked at Chekov's face, a confused expression taking over her face.

"Who are you talking about? Who are you? Nobody is coming after us."

Chekov returned the confused expression, turning his head to make sure the angry mob hadn't disappeared. They hadn't. The teens continued to run towards Chekov and Uhura, with Carver as their leader.

"They're right here, if ve don't get of here they're gonna kill us. Ve haf to go Nyota.!" Chekov said more urgently attempting to grab Uhura's arm again. She pulled away from him once again.

"Get off of me, I don't know you and I don't want to know you, Get away from me!" she shouted.

Chekov, stung by her words winced as he stood in place frozen.

He really wasn't good enough. Wasn't good enough to save himself from this mob, wasn't good enough to know or talk to Uhura, wasn't good enough to make it out of the library. What was the point of all of this? To discourage him from trying, to lower his self esteem? It was definitely working.

As he thought this the mob made it over to them.

Chekov was yanked by his arm with a scream and when he landed on the ground a flurry of his fists and feet pumbled him from all directions. Everything happened so quickly that he could hardly even scream. He squeezed his eyes shut as fists plunged into his sides, his face and his stomach. Chekov quickly felt multiple shoes scraping over his torso, his legs and his neck. Pain was all Chekov could feel from all sides and it literally knocked the breath out of him. He lost his will to fight and as he lay there limp getting beaten by his old classmates. He opened one eye and saw only a glimpse of Uhura as she walked away in the opposite direction. Chekov knew it was over; they would kill him. He felt multiple of his bones breaking and he tried to scream again but all of his breath was gone.

His head pounded like crazy, parts of him went numb while others only felt constant pain and the last image he saw before blacking out was a shoe crushing his face.

.

.

.

Chekov awoke with a start, sitting up from his bed quickly and shouting. He felt around his body with his hands, checking for bruises or gashes; any sign that he did get attacked. When he found none he sighed in relief, wiping cold sweat off of his forehead.

Although the mob and the attack weren't real Chekov knew that the dream still held a message. His subconscious was attempting to psyche him out, trying to convince him that he wasn't good enough for anything or anyone or Uhura. And it began to work. Chekov felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach and felt himself slowly falling into the depression he had suffered when he first came to America. He didn't have an ounce of confidence at the time and he felt the little bit he had now ebbing away slowly. It was maddening being alone with his thoughts, constantly telling himself that he wasn't good enough for her or anyone else.

Chekov had to distract himself or he would subconsciously convince himself not to approach Uhura.

Chekov quickly stripped out of his clothes and bolted into the shower. He turned and pressed a button to his right causing hot water to pour from the shower head. Chekov squeezed his eyes shut and chanted "I can do it!" to himself for the duration of the shower. He figured if chanting words of encouragement worked for Sulu, it could work for him.

When Chekov finished washing off he turned the water off, got out of the shower, quickly dried himself off and got dressed. His next plan was to distract himself so he wouldn't think about the dream and his self-esteem. After dressing himself, he immediately dashed to the living room and threw himself into his work, pulling up multiple physics e-books on his PADD and studying chapters they hadn't even reached in class. Whenever thoughts about the dream would materialize in his mind he would smack his head, seemingly knocking the thoughts out of his head and resumed his work.

By the end of the night the whole right side of his face was pink and he was worn out.

The words he was reading began to blur and he found that he had attempted to read the same line six times. It was definitely time for bed.

Chekov brought his PADD into his room setting it on his night stand. A second later he fell backwards onto his bed immediately falling asleep.

That night, his dreams were filled with images of Nyota, who he was determined to see the next day…

**How was the second chapter? If it was boring I'm sorry but I felt that chapter 2 should be more of a Chekov's history type chapter in order to establish his personality. I didn't necessarily like this chapter as much as I did the first one, but I kinda wanted to get this out of the way so I can write the more interesting chapters. Chapter 3 will have more interesting things, promise! And hopefully I won't take so long to write it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note/disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Star Trek. This is my first fanfiction, so if there's any help anyone can give that would be appreciated. LOOKING FOR BETA! (If there are any mistakes, please alert me!)**

"**I can do zat"**

Chapter 3

Chekov opened his eyes the moment his alarm went off.

He reluctantly got up, got dressed and headed to his first and favorite class, physics. Advanced physics to be exact. Chekov was at the top of his class. It was the one class that he felt extremely confident in. It was a class where he could show his ability without second guessing himself or having others second guess him. It made him feel more at home than he had ever felt since he had joined the academy.

The class was quick. The teacher gave the students the usual equations to solve and then as a class they discussed physics-related theories. A favorite of the teacher's, that day, was the theory relating to achieving warp speed.

The bell rung. Chekov got up from his chair. He slowly walked out of the class room, wishing his teacher a good day. Once out of the door, he made his way down the hallway past several students coming out of their classroom as well. He continued out of the door at the end of the hallway and made his way over to the library.

Chekov walked through the library doors and immediately headed for the linguistics section. He waded in between many shelves until he saw the "Linguistics" sign on the end of one shelf.

He cautiously turned a corner.

There she was, just as Sulu said she would be. Her back was turned to him so all Chekov could see was a high ponytail, small shoulders and arms, the way her standard uniform molded into her curves, the backs of her legs, and how her standard boots shone in the light of the library. But it was enough to make him feel his legs turn to jelly.

He stared at her for a long while, watching as she grabbed a book from the shelf and quickly made her way over to a nearby table. Chekov mirrored this act by grabbing an arbitrary book off of the shelf closest to him and hurriedly sitting at a table adjacent to her own.

He propped his book up in a way that would cover his face. Chekov then craned his neck so he could observe her from behind the book discreetly.

Chekov silently watched as her lovely long fingers slowly turned the pages of a book whilst her eyes scanned each page. A lingering feeling of nervousness began to envelope him and he couldn't bring himself to think of anything but incoherent thoughts of her. And he definitely couldn't bring himself to move so he continued to sit there, watching her, taking a mental note of every action.

_Uhura. Me. Please. Why. Cruel world. Gorgeous. PLEASE. _

At one point she even looked up from her book and made eye contact with Chekov. Chekov was flushed in seconds as she smiled at him and then looked back at her book to continue reading. Chekov quickly pretended to do the same for a while until he sensed that she wouldn't notice if he looked at her again.

A few minutes later the bell ending passing period rung and Uhura got up to return the book to its original shelf. She then went back over to her table gathered her things and left the library, still unknowing of Chekov's undying gaze.

He had let her leave without even approaching her. Chekov was extremely disappointed in himself, but he decided against giving up.

He tried again the next day and then the day after that, and the day after that, but each time he couldn't bring himself to stop her from leaving the library. So unsure and unconfident in his abilities he could never even make himself move towards her general direction until after she left. It soon became an unending unbearable cycle that Chekov couldn't break.

…

It took Chekov three months to approach Uhura. During those three months, he showed up at the library after first period just as Sulu said to do. Each time he grabbed a book off of an arbitrary shelf and sat at a table adjacent to hers, watching her. Replaying what he would like to say to her over and over in his head, but never gathering enough courage to actually go over to her to say it. Numbers, words, insecurities, and obstacles were always all Chekov's mind could conjure up everytime he watched her.

In a way, Chekov became his own bully. The more time he spent in the library watching her, attempting to mentally prepare himself, it only caused him to become more insecure in his ability to attract her. He sat peering at her so much that he began to notice the smallest things about her. The way she held the books she read (at a 15 degree angle), the way she sighed in delight as she read, even the way that she sat down, legs crossed.

Chekov's mother, back home in Russia, always told him that 'nobody was perfect' in order to make him feel better whenever he had failed at anything (which wasn't often). However, watching Uhura made him feel like he was told a lie.

Uhura was the image of perfection, everything he could never even hope to come close to.

As he thought this, the bell ending passing period rang and for the sixty-fifth time, Uhura walked out of the library killing yet another chance of approaching her.

Chekov slammed his face into his hands and sighed loudly. He bolted into a standing position and began to aggressively gather his things from his table. He then practically hammered the book he had been "reading" into the shelf he got it from and then stormed out of the library. The moment he was out of the room, he broke into an angry run towards his dorm room.

He slammed his passcode in and entered his dorm when the door opened. Chekov threw his bag onto the floor and began thrashing around, knocking things over, slamming onto the couch and floor shouting obscene things in Russian.

He then ran his hands through his hair, grabbing curls along the way, silently threatening to rip them off of his scalp in frustration. "Why can't I do this one zing! Vat is wrong vith me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

In the next second a bedroom door was thrusted open and Chekov jumped back, startled. He quickly scanned the door and what was behind it only to find his roommate barging out of the room, eyes wide, with furrowed brows. Harry Mathews, Chekov's roommate ever since he started going to Starfleet. They hardly talked and didn't get along very well when they did. Harry often brought girls over to stay the night, which is why Chekov stayed at Sulu's dorm some nights, giving Sulu the excuse that he 'just wanted to study.'

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?," Harry shouted as he scanned the room noticing various items scattered across the carpet.

Chekov quickly turned a deep shade of red, only then remembering the possibility that his roommate would be at their dorm. "I'm sorry…I..I'll clean it up!," Chekov stammered.

"Yeah! You do that!"

Harry sighed loudly then stomped back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

Chekov stood there, head hanging in shame for a while before he started cleaning up the living room, restoring it to it's usual layout. Clean and bear carpet, couch with pillows neatly placed on top of it as it lay in front of a flat screen television set and so on.

After he finished, he gathered his things and quickly left his dorm only to find himself in front of Sulu's a few minutes later.

Chekov urgently put in the pass code that Sulu had given him months ago in case of emergency. The dorm door swung open, hissing at him. Chekov scurried in, quickly closing the door behind him. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the lighting, he searched Sulu's living room, eyes roaming over the kitchen, the sofa, coffee table. There was no sign of him. Chekov quickly walked over to Sulu's bedroom door. He pounded on it five times and then proceeded to let himself in.

…..

Sulu was on his bed, laying on his stomach, holding his PADD. But he was looking at Chekov who had just entered his room. Chekov looked like a wreck, a nervous wreck. After noticing this, Sulu gently asked "Hey, man...what's wrong?"

"The problem iz me,"Chekov said, wide eyed, pacing. "I can't...I can't do it. I am not 'boyfriend material.' I am Pawel, the nerd boy who's only good at Physics!"

Chekov then silently pouted.

"You can't do what?" Sulu questioned, eyebrows furrowing.

Chekov raised his eyes to Sulu's to glare at him. Sulu reflected for a few seconds then replied:

"Oh! Talk to Uhura!"

"YES! And it iz driving me crazy. I'm just not good enough. Maybe I should have newer had a crush on her. I should hawe just focused on my work as I alvays do," Chekov mumbled solemnly.

Sulu scrambled up into a sitting position putting a hand on Chekov's shoulders.

"Come on man, don't say that. Why do you put yourself down so much?"

Chekov sighed and answered, "I am only voicing what others think of me already."

"Who cares what people think?! You don't even know what they think anyway, you can't just assume."

"I can see it...in the way that eweryone looks at me, like I'm just a kid who can't do anything but Physics. Ever since I came to America..."

"Okay, stop it, stop it. Don't say you regret coming here now, I wouldn't have even known you if you hadn't."

Chekov's looked downwards, in shame once again.

"What you need is confidence. Stop putting yourself down and stop regretting your decisions. You are much more than…"

"Than what?" Chekov mumbled.

"Than just some Russian boy who's great at Physics. You are also a jerk," Sulu noted, a smile growing on his face.

Chekov produced a mock laugh, "oh ha ha ha…"

"No, but I'm serious. If there wasn't anything interesting about you, I wouldn't even be here. You're spontaneous, funny, smart, loyal and reliable. You have all the best qualities. Dude, I don't know how you can't see that. Uhura's going to love you, if you just give her the chance by introducing yourself."

"...I don't know..."

Sulu punched Chekov in the shoulder.

"AI! What was zat for!" Chekov screeched.

"Stop being a punk and just listen to me!" Sulu replied. "Just do it. She'd be crazy not to like you. Wasn't your old nickname jailbait or something? Use it to your advantage. She won't be able to resist. And don't think any more negative thoughts. Everytime you do just chant that you can do it…or pinch yourself."

Sulu paused.

"It's an order not a suggestion by the way," he laughed. "You can do this! Say it back. Say 'I can do this!'"

"I can do zis!"

"Louder!"

"I CAN do zis"

"Again!"

"I CAN DO ZIS!"

"That's it, that's the spirit!" Sulu shouted slapping Chekov on the shoulder once again.

Chekov winced and then glared. "Hikaru," he warned.

"Okay, okay I'm done" Sulu quickly replied, giggling as he removed his hands from Chekov's shoulder in order to hold both hands up in a surrender gesture.

"What are you going to do tomorrow morning?"

"Go to my physics class and then my…"

"Wrong!"

"...But I am going to Physics."

Sulu narrowed his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. You're going to talk to Uhura tomorrow. You're going to make her fall madly in love with you."

Chekov furrowed his eyes brows and pursed his lips as if to say 'you really think it's that easy'.

"She'll be all like 'oh Pavel tell me you love me in Russian'," Sulu laughed heartily.

Chekov pushed Sulu.

Once again, Sulu laid in front of him, laughing at his expense.

Chekov playfully grimaced and then started laughing with him a second later.

After the laughter subsided, Sulu and Chekov talked for the rest of the evening, deciding that Chekov should keep it simple and just introduce himself and mention xenolinguistics.

.

.

.

After leaving Sulu's dorm, Chekov thought over what advice Sulu had given him.

Had he been foolish to get so worked up about one task? Was he just overreacting over built up insecurities? He must have been if the dream is what made him so afraid of talking to Uhura.

With Sulu's words ringing fresh in his head, he decided that he would stop being so insecure, go for it and see what happens. What's the worst that could happen? Hurt feelings? Chekov reassured himself that it was a minuscule problem. After all, he had survived Brutus. If he could do that, he could survive a few hurt feelings over a woman he didn't even know. A beautiful woman he didn't know, with big brown eyes that saw right through you…

_Tomorrow's the day. For sure_, Chekov thought.

That night, he had a similar dream to the last. However, Uhura's attire had no words on it and when the mob of students chased him, he made it to Uhura and she accepted his help. In front of them a door materialized and they exited the library. Safe and sound. No crushed face. No blood. And more importantly no pain.  
.

.

.  
Chekov awoke refreshed and well-rested.

After first period, he briskly walked over to the library, head held high.

He turned the corner, and saw her in the linguistics section for the sixty-sixth time. Just as the other times, her back was turned to him so all Chekov could see was the same high ponytail, the way her standard uniform molded into her curves, the backs of her legs, and how her standard boots shone in the light of the library.

He stared at her for a long while and thought the plan over in his head.

_Talk to her about xenolinguistics and see what happens…_

Despite Chekov's fear of rejection he finally got the courage to at least take a step forward. Then another, and another. He took his time walking slowly towards her.

Uhura must have been done looking at books for the day because she abruptly put the book she had been scanning back in the shelf and picked her book bag up from the floor and began to walk out of the library.

Chekov significantly quickened his pace.

_Not this time._

After what seemed like forever, he finally made it up to her, almost out of breath due to the nervousness he felt paired with the urgency to catch up to her. Uhura, already looking down, noticed a pair of shoes and legs beside her and looked up to see Chekov beside her.

"Hello," Chekov, whose face was already red, began awkwardly.

"Hi" she replied sheepishly.

Hearing Uhura's voice was like a bolt of electricity. He felt the heat from the shock trickle throughout his body at the sound of it. It was so sultry but sweet, at the same time. The perfect sound. The sound which could incapacitate Chekov.

This wasn't going to be easy, but he would get throught this.

"…My name is Chekov… I heard that you vere wery interested in xenolinguistics, yes?"

Uhura nodded and then her eyes grew wide as she took another look at Chekov. "Oh! I know who you are now."

Chekov stared into her eyes with eager disbelief.

_She knows who I am?! This is unbelievable! _

"You...do?" Chekov questioned slowly.

"Yeah, I've seen you in the library a lot and around school. You're Hikaru's friend, right?

_…Great… She knows me as Hikaru's friend... I guess that's a start._

Chekov inwardly shrugged.

"Oh...uh yeah. Has he said anyzing about me?"

"Oh, no. He hasn't mentioned you. I've just seen you guys walking and talking together around campus from time to time. I thought you were a couple at first," Uhura replied with a chuckle.

"Oh...me and Hikaru..no..I…."

Chekov could feel the tiniest drop of sweat trickle through his curls as he found it harder and harder to look into her eyes.

Uhura lightly continued to giggle. "…You brought up xenolinguistics a minute ago right?"

"Oh, uh, yes," Chekov cleared his throat. "You are interested in it? I vas hoping ve could…discuss it?"

Uhura smiled, "Only if you help me with something."

Chekov's eyes grew wide and furrowed his brow wondering what she could possibly need his help for.

"From your accent I can tell that you're Russian, correct?"

"…Da."

Chekov continued to furrow his brow in confusion as he contemplated what she had said. Then it dawned on him. He quickly became inwardly giddy with excitement.

"I need help with some of the pronunciation of certain words. I wasn't able to properly finish studying the language because I had to quickly learn Andronian and Vulcan for my xenolinguistics class. I'm familiar with the grammar and even how to spell most words, it's just the pronunciation and vocabulary I need to familiarize myself with. Will you help me?"

"Vith Russian?! Of course," Chekov shouted. Then, realizing how loud he was speaking, he rehashed, "If you need help with Russian, I am your guy," in a softer tone.

Uhura chuckled softly. "And is there anything that you need help with? Relating to linguistics I mean?"

"Uh…I'm just here to help," he replied with a smile.

Uhura looked at Chekov with a pleased look. "Oh, well If you think of anything you need help with I can help, I feel bad not helping you in return."

"No really, it iz completely ok."

"oh ok, well when should we meet up?"

_Doesn't matter. I'd make time for you whenever. Anything you want._

Chekov cleared his throat, a second time, and gave what he thought to be a reasonable answer.

"Um, vhenever you are free."

"Hmm, well I'm busy until next week. We can do Thursday of next week if that's alright?"

Chekov searched her face for several seconds before answering, a smile growing on his face. He finally did what he should have done when he first visited the library in search of her. He would finally have a chance. He hadn't won the war, but the first battle was now over and victory tasted so sweet and was so beautiful.

"Sure."

Uhura smiled back at him. "Great! I'll see you then."

She turned on her heel and began walking in the other direction only to stop mid-walk, and turn back toward Chekov with an expression that suggested she had forgotten something.

"Oh, My name is Uhura by the way!"

Chekov simply nodded and smiled.

_I know. Trust me, I know._

**So sorry it took forever to upload this, ugh. I was being extremely picky with this chapter and after I wrote it I was like "ugh I feel like it's crap" but I thought about how I could change it, and nothing came to mind. Honestly, I wasn't going to upload it today but I saw a very nice comment about chapter 2 and I was like what the hey. I hope it wasn't too bad in the having depth department, I promise to do better in the future. Criticism is always welcome. I would love it actually. Anywho, I will start working on chapter 4 immediately and hopefully I can get to the good stuff ;). Stay tuned!**

**P.S. Sorry again if I always sound negative lol. I don't mean to it just comes out that way XD.**


End file.
